wheelchair in the closet

Old May 20, 2012, 8:25 am
  #31  
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Policy

Every airline has a policy and are required to only load one wheel chair on board.

You must be the person who forced me to check mine as I had "booked" it only to find that some "entitled jerk" who beat me to the plane and did not advance book the spot took it!

Follow the rules and you will get no hazzels by the airline staff. Think you are entitled (eg why do those of us with disabilities feel we should not have to pay for parking at airports, meters, etc) and you should be refused!
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Old May 20, 2012, 11:02 am
  #32  
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The rules (posted above) are that up to one manual chair must be stowed in the closet, provided the chair fits and the passenger pre-boards. There's no "booking", no "reserving". A manual wheelchair takes precedence over all other luggage, including flight attendant and first class passenger bags.

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience, and I'm sorry that disabled people are forced to compete with each other for scarce rationed resources like closet space, accessible bathroom stalls, accessible parking, and properly equipped rental cars. The sooner society recognizes that disability is not an exceptional outlier condition but part of the human spectrum, the sooner we won't have to trample each other in our race to get the closet space.

I don't believe that I act like an "entitled jerk". I do want my wheelchair, my means of mobility, to be treated respectfully and not thrown around like it's not important. I also don't want to be treated like I'm asking for special treatment when I merely want to travel like everyone else.
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Old May 20, 2012, 3:34 pm
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Originally Posted by BeatCal
Every airline has a policy and are required to only load one wheel chair on board.

You must be the person who forced me to check mine as I had "booked" it only to find that some "entitled jerk" who beat me to the plane and did not advance book the spot took it!

Follow the rules and you will get no hazzels by the airline staff. Think you are entitled (eg why do those of us with disabilities feel we should not have to pay for parking at airports, meters, etc) and you should be refused!
Come back to the real world please! In the real world, following all the rules, even saying "please", does not prevent you from getting hassled (the proper spelling of hazzels, I think). By the way, don't you think the FA should be hassled if he or she doesn't follow the rules?

By the way, the policy to stow one wheelchair on board isn't talking about the aisle chair, which is covered by a different rule. I'm not sure if you get that or not?

"Entitled"? I don't see how this word applies to this situation at all. There's a law about this. The FA does not have the right to break the law any more than you do.
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Old May 20, 2012, 4:41 pm
  #34  
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+1 Katja. +1 DF.

No one is taking anything from anyone by pre-boarding and requesting the use of the wheelchair closet for (gasp!) their wheelchair. Katja makes an excellent point: the airlines would be well-advised to realize that pax with disabilities in this day and age are not outliers, we do not stay home, we do not live in nursing homes, making hook rugs, watching reality tv, desperate for someone to visit. We have jobs, we have businesses, we have husbands, wives, children, homes, the occasional strange hobby . . . And we travel. Some of us travel a lot.
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Old May 20, 2012, 6:20 pm
  #35  
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Delta: We limit the number of personal wheelchairs to one personal wheelchair per flight...Wheelchairs stowed onboard have priority over other carry-on items except those of through passengers.

US Air; Manual wheelchairs, canes, crutches and walkers
On aircraft with more than 100 seats, US Airways has room for one typical adult-sided folding, collapsible or break-down manual wheelchair, cane, crutches or walker in the cabin’s priority stowage space, so long as it complies with applicable safety, security and hazardous materials rules. The priority stowage space will either be a closet or the back row of seats.

US Airways offers in-cabin wheelchair stowage on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please call 800-428-4322/TTY 800-245-2966 24 hours before your flight to document your request for in-cabin wheelchair stowage.

American: Wheelchairs and other reduced mobility assistance requests can be made while you are booking your flight on AA.com or by calling Reservations.

If advance notification is not given, the airport authorities will make reasonable efforts to assist you, however an advance notification will help ensure you receive the assistance you require.
I normally fly US Air and as noted above the single chair space is supposed to go to the one that reserves it first. Just showing up as the OP did is incorrect and they don't have to help you if they don't have room.

Pax with disabilities should be treated with no more special attention than a regular passenger as long as they are given the same abilities to fly. Delta specifically notes that wheel chairs do not have priority over other passengers.
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Old May 20, 2012, 6:50 pm
  #36  
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Again, I'm sorry that you are so upset about your experience.

Delta, American and USAir can ask you to request cabin stowage ahead of time, but per the Air Carrier Access Act, they cannot require such advance notice in order to provide legally required accommodation. The only thing they can require is that the passenger requesting cabin stowage pre-board.

In my case, there was no other passenger on my flight with his/her own wheelchair, so I wasn't depriving any other wheelchair user of cabin stowage, requested in advance or not.

I also wasn't flying Delta, American or USAir, but that's moot.
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Old May 21, 2012, 5:43 am
  #37  
 
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Originally Posted by BeatCal
I normally fly US Air and as noted above the single chair space is supposed to go to the one that reserves it first. Just showing up as the OP did is incorrect and they don't have to help you if they don't have room.
Notice it says, "Please call...", not "you must call". That's because the law says they can't say, "you must call x hours prior..." (except in certain situations, which does not include the situation being discussed in this thread).
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Old May 21, 2012, 7:32 am
  #38  
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You are wrong!
Reread the law.
It says they must stow ONE chair in a space other than the overhead (does not state "closet" - I have had mine most often stowed behind seats).

It does NOT state how they decide first come, first serve.

if the OP had "pre-informed" , had the space not been previously reserved, the FA would have known she had a wheelchair and have made the space available.

I have never had a problem (nor do people I know) who have followed the rules other than someone who feels "entitled" pushes in front and ignores the fact it has been reserved.

I do not understand why the posters here feel it is ok to ignore the carriers rules? It is no different than going to DMV to get your car sticker!
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Old May 21, 2012, 9:43 am
  #39  
 
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I travel with a copy of the Air Carrier Access Act as well as a print out from the airlines own website when I fly. I've had about a 90% success rate requesting and having my manual wheelchair placed in the cabin closet by doing that. Generally, the flight attendants don't believe me that it is both the law and their airlines policy until they read both of those copies themselves.

It has been twice that I've needed to request a Complaint Resolution Officer and in both cases, that person did tell the flight attendants to unload the luggage they had placed in the cabin closet to allow my spouse to attempt to place my manual wheelchair into it. The wheelchair has always fit and I have always received apologies from the Complaint Resolution Officers and a request to send through a complaint so that they can better train their cabin crews.

Before I did this, I've had my frame bent, spokes broken (not easy on a manual wheelchair) and even had the frame broken. They've also forgotten my wheelchair in the jetway where it was placed with the gate check tag and then failed to notice it and load it into the hold of the aircraft.

I am always friendly, upbeat and positive. Mostly because that is just my normal personality. I have found that being that way helps a bit but what helps more is acknowledging to the cabin crew that it IS a pain for them to have to deal with a manual wheelchair and apologizing for the extra work.

Although now all of this is pretty much a moot point, as my current collapsible manual travel wheelchair comes apart and folds down far enough to fit into the overhead bins. The last time we flew, we had to call a Complaint Resolution Officer to require the cabin crew to allow us to place my manual wheelchair into the overhead compartment because they didn't believe us that it would fit. It did, they were amazed and apologetic.

So, when we flew home, my spouse just put it up in the overhead compartment while I was being pre-boarded in the aisle chair. That particular flight crew (very decent, kind group of people) made it a point to tell us to not even bother to ask any cabin crews about placing it in the overhead compartments. That the best thing to do, was just put it up there and tell them after, as it would save us a lot of hassles with no one believing it will fit up there. That's the plan for the next flights we take.

Oh, and when the wheelchair is up in the overhead compartment, it fits nicely on top of our carry-on bags and doesn't take up any extra space.
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Old May 21, 2012, 10:23 am
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Originally Posted by BeatCal
You are wrong!
Reread the law.
It says they must stow ONE chair in a space other than the overhead (does not state "closet" - I have had mine most often stowed behind seats)...
Just as a point of information/clarification, the chair could not have been simply stowed behind a seat as that is not an approved stowage location for an item of mass. It is possible that the air carrier may have installed a supplemental means of restraining the seat in that location but in all cases, the means of restraint would have been required to meet the emergency landing conditions associated with the basis of certification for the aircraft type. This is why an enclosed space, such as a closet, is typically specified as the stowage location as it is designed and intended for the restraint of items of mass.
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Old May 21, 2012, 2:39 pm
  #41  
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US Air; Manual wheelchairs, canes, crutches and walkers
On aircraft with more than 100 seats, US Airways has room for one typical adult-sided folding, collapsible or break-down manual wheelchair, cane, crutches or walker in the cabins priority stowage space, so long as it complies with applicable safety, security and hazardous materials rules. The priority stowage space will either be a closet or the back row of seats.
I've been told by some that the closet's are now built for jackets and the door will not hold anything heavy.
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Old May 21, 2012, 2:52 pm
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Thanks BeatCal... That is an interesting comment on their website about the back row of seats ... I may have to inquire further about that.

Every approved stowage location on board the aircraft will be marked with a placard indicating the maximum acceptable weight for the location. So, if you are told that again in the future about the closet, you might check or request to know what the placard indicates - just for information purposes, of course.
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Old May 21, 2012, 7:57 pm
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Originally Posted by BeatCal
You are wrong!
Reread the law.
It says they must stow ONE chair in a space other than the overhead (does not state "closet" - I have had mine most often stowed behind seats).

It does NOT state how they decide first come, first serve.

if the OP had "pre-informed" , had the space not been previously reserved, the FA would have known she had a wheelchair and have made the space available.

I have never had a problem (nor do people I know) who have followed the rules other than someone who feels "entitled" pushes in front and ignores the fact it has been reserved.

I do not understand why the posters here feel it is ok to ignore the carriers rules? It is no different than going to DMV to get your car sticker!
I have read the law and reread it numerous times. I do not see where I am wrong. I do not see where the others are wrong. Do you even know what the Air Carrier Access Act is? Are you talking about the law in the US? FYI, the law takes precedence over carrier policies. The law specifically states "first come, first served" on this topic. It also specifically states the rules on priority for there closet. You better go back and read it again, if you ever have read it.
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Old May 22, 2012, 7:28 am
  #44  
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Originally Posted by DeafFlyer
I have read the law and reread it numerous times. I do not see where I am wrong. I do not see where the others are wrong. Do you even know what the Air Carrier Access Act is? Are you talking about the law in the US? FYI, the law takes precedence over carrier policies. The law specifically states "first come, first served" on this topic. It also specifically states the rules on priority for there closet. You better go back and read it again, if you ever have read it.
DF
"first come, first served" by US air is first person who reserves is first served. This meets the air carrier act.
The law also does not state "closet". It states space other than overhead.

You would prefer a wheel chair race to the gate?

I would suggest you reread it
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Old May 22, 2012, 8:40 am
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Originally Posted by BeatCal
DF
"first come, first served" by US air is first person who reserves is first served. This meets the air carrier act.
The law also does not state "closet". It states space other than overhead.

You would prefer a wheel chair race to the gate?

I would suggest you reread it
I have read it multiple times now and just checked again. Here is a quote with some of it bolded:

382.41 Stowage of personal equipment.
(2) In an aircraft in which a closet or other approved stowage area is provided in the cabin for passengers carry-on items, of a size that will accommodate a folding, collapsible, or break-down wheelchair, the carrier shall designate priority stowage space, as described below, for at least one folding, collapsible, or break-down wheelchair in that area. A individual with a disability who takes advantage of a carrier offer of the opportunity to pre-board the aircraft may stow his or her wheelchair in this area, with priority over the carry-on items brought onto the aircraft by other passengers enplaning at the same airport. A individual with a disability who does not take advantage of a carrier offer of the opportunity to preboard may use the area to stow his or her wheelchair on a first-come, first-served basis along with all other passengers seeking to stow carry-on items in the area.
This paragraph talks about pre-boarding, not about reserving stowage space in advance. It pretty clearly states that to use this stowage area, whether it is a closet or not, can not be reserved since it specifies only during pre-boarding. I see nothing about allowing the airlines to reserve the space in advance. If you have a quote from the law that says otherwise then please post it. The US Airways paragraph you posted earlier says nothing about reserving the space in advance of pre boarding. I've also bolded the phrase "first come, first served" for you.

there won't be any wheelchair races as it will be whichever person gets pre-boarded first. I have been the last to arrive at a gate, where there were many old folks using chairs and waiting to be pre boarded. I was pre-boarded first, since out of all of us, I was the only one who could not get up and walk to my seat. I did not request to be first. The wheelchair assistance crew, along with the airline gate agents decided who goes first.
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